Jet stream refueling system

ABSTRACT

A system for refueling ships at sea or at dockside capable of delivering large quantities of oil at high speed by forcing the oil through a nozzle on a supply oiler in a coherent stream trajectory and receiving the oil in a receiver on a receiving ship at a distance of 60-200 feet. The nozzle on the sending ship may be trained and elevated to allow for the pitch and roll and relative position of the respective ships. An accordion bellows shroud is provided between the nozzle and the receiver to eliminate dileterious effects of wind and water on the trajectory stream.

United States Patent Waldron 1 Apr. 25, 1972 54] JET STREAM REFUELING SYSTEM 3,122,158 2/1964 Grunsky ..141/390 x ml Wale, Annapolis- 31233323 351322 1 1l2; ;f..f.:.................,.;:::i:131/333 [73] Assignee: The United States of A ri a a 3,586,065 6/1971 Bowles ..141/1 represented by the Secretary of the Navy Primary Examiner-Edward J. Earls Filed: May 291 1968 Attorney-R1 S. Sciascia and Q. E. Hodges [21] Appl. No: 732,920

[ ABSTRACT 52 U.S. c1 ..141 284, 137/815, 214 13 A System for refueling Ships at Sea or dockside Capable of [5 1] Int Cl I I I "363, 27/24 delivering large quantities of oil at high speed by forcing the 53 Field ofSearch ..137 s1.5, 236, 615, 802; through a "01118 on a PP Y coherent Stream Y 141, 67 387 388 390 392, 284; [69/2, 5, 13 trajectory and receiving the oil in a rece1ver on a receiving 25 2 4 2 4. 244 35 A. 239 5 5 5 587 Ship at a distance of 60-200 feet. The l'lOZZlC on [1'18 sending ship may be trained and elevated to allow for the pitch and roll [56] References cued and relative position of the respective ships. An accordion bellows shroud is provided between the nozzle and the receiver to UNITED STATES PATENTS eliminate dileterious effects of wind and water on the trajector str a 2,740,153 4/1956 Bishop ..l5/4l5 y e m 2,953,806 9/1960 Walker 15/3 15 8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures JET STREAM REFUELING SYSTEM The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Goverment of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system fore refueling ships at sea or at dockside and more particularly to a system using no hoses, therefore overcoming the disadvantages of low delivery rate of hoses and their tendency to slacken to cause dragging in the water or to tighten to possibly part the hoses. 1n the instant invention, no fluid hose connection need be made between the ships, except for a protective shroud to shield a stream of oil sent by a nozzle on the sending ship. The oil to be delivered is forced through a nozzle on the deck of the sending ship to form a coherent stream trajectory to reach the receiving ship having, integral with its superstructure, a receiver to accept the stream of oil. Automatic train and elevation means are provided to maintain the aim of the nozzle on the receiver.

Naval activities require that combatant ships such as carriers, destroyers, frigates, and cruisers continue operation for long periods of time and often beyond the range of their selfcontained fuel supplies. It has become necessary, therefore, to refuel these ships from oilers while underway and at sea where wind and sea conditions are rather rough.

The common refueling at sea operation is generally commenced by shooting a messenger line over from one of the ships to the other by the use of a line throwing gun and using this line to transfer a span wire to the receiving ship. The span wire or high line is removably attached to a padeye on the receiving ship and connected to constant tensioning means on the sending ship to maintain it taut. Refueling hoses are transferred from the sending ship to the other using the span wire as a support for the trolleys attached to hose saddles. The hoses are then fluidly connected to the tanks of both ships and pumping is commenced on the sending ship.

The disadvantages of this common refueling system include requiring extreme attention to station-keeping of the two ships which necessitates precise control of speed and relative position in rough sea conditions, a task which is quire difficult. It is not uncommon for the two ships to come together so the hoses drag in the water and to separate so far a to'part the oil transfer hoses causing the loss of considerable oil. A main disadvantage is the fact that these hoses, having a diameter of 7 inches and the oil being rather viscous, is that there is considerable fluid flow friction which results in rather slow delivery rates of oil. This factor requires that the ships are refueling at sea and maintaining station keeping for considerable length of time thereby keeping the combatant ship out of service for longer than is desirable, and that the oiler not be available for servicing other combatant ships.

SUMMARY The purpose of the instant invention is to provide a refueling at sea system of great efficiency and simplicity where no hoses are required to be connected between the two ships. This feature is accomplished by pumping the oil from the tanks of an oiler to a nozzle which forms a coherent jet or stream of oil and which shoots the stream in a trajectory to the receiving combatant ship alongside at a distance of some 60200 feet. The receiving ship has a suitable receiver in its superstructure receiving the oil coming over in the stream for delivery into its fuel tanks. If suction is required at the receiver, the oil containing any entrained air is directed to a central receiving tank for subsequent redistribution to the fuel storage tanks.

Because both the sending oiler and receiving ship may be pitching and rolling during fuel transfer, the nozzle is attached to automatic training and elevation means controlled by mechanical linkages attached to the span wire or perhaps by radar or gyro-stabilization means, to maintain the trajectory of oil on target at the receiver. Depending the design configuration of the receiving ship, the receiver may be large enough to permit some inaccuracies of aim from the nozzle and be mounted on the superstructure.

This invention includes the concept of shrouding the coherent jet stream between the two ships by the use of a flexible accordion-bellows shaped shroud. Because the trajectory of the oil stream is substantially parabolic in shape, the shroud must conform to such trajectory. This is accomplished by using a span wire or high line between the two ships held at high tension by constant tensioning means on the sender ship. Upon this constant tension span wire there are trolley wheels having subtending trolley links attached at their lower ends to shroud frames, said links being longer toward the ends of the shroud and increasingly shorter toward the middle of the shroud, thereby conforming the shroud to the parabolic trajectory of oil.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of this invention is to provide a refueling at sea system which provides a fast and efficient means for transferring oil from one ship to another.

Another object of this invention is to provide a refueling at sea system wherein no hoses are required between the two ships, and the oil is transferred in a coherent jet stream from a nozzle and covered by a protective shroud.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the accompanying specification, claims and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of two ships at sea alongside each other showing the transfer of oil in a coherent trajectory stream covered by a shroud.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a train and elevation mechanism and gimbal joint for the supply nozzle.

FIG. 3. is a cross-section view of one of many aerodynamic shapes for the accordion-bellows type shroud showing supporting wires.

DESCRlPTlON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown a sending ship or oiler 10 of the A0 or AOE design and a receiving ship 12 generally of the combatant type alongside one another and separated by a distance of approximately 60-200 feet. A nozzle 14 on the oiler 10 is mounted on a support 16 attached to the deck 18. A suitable gimbal joint 20 connects the nozzle 14 and the support 16. Any suitable fluid flexible coupling such as a length of hose 22 is interposed between the nozzle 14 and the supply pipe 24 connected to pumps and supply tanks (not shown).

On the receiving ship 12 there is shown receiver 28 formed flush in the superstructure 30 on the deck 32 of the receiving ship. Suitable doors (not shown) are provided to seal the receiver and the oil storage tanks from contaminants when refueling is not in progress. A downcomer or conduit 36 fluidly connects the receiver with the oil tanks (not shown).

A span wire 44 having a pelican hook 45 at its end is shown connected from an M frame 46 on the sending ship to a padeye 48 welded to the superstructure 30 on the receiving ship. The span wire is maintained at a constant tension by a ram tensioner 50 on the supplying ship 10.

Upon the constant tension span wire 44 there is shown a plurality of trolleys 52 and suspended therefrom, a plurality of trolley links S4. Trolley links 54 may be subsequently attached to shroud frames 55 spaced along the length of a shroud 56 of the accordion-bellows type and made from a flexible material such as sheet polyurethane. The open end of the shroud 56 at the oil 10 is afiixed to an enclosure 34 and covers the tip of the nozzle 14. The remote end 58 of the shroud 56 is shown to be stretched across to the receiving ship 12 where it is attached to the side of the superstructure 30 around the receiver- 28. Attached to the remote end 58 of the accordion-bellows shroud 56 is an in-haul line 62 used to draw the remote end 58 back to the sending ship after refueling. The shroud 56 being higher atthe sending ship will roll down the span wire by gravityv It should be noted that the trolley links between the trolley wheels and the many points along the shroud are of different lengths, longer at the ends of the shroud and progressively shorter toward the center of the shroud. The varying length of the connecting links 54 causes the shroud to conform to the parabolic shape taken by the oil trajectory so that the oil stream will not impinge upon the inside surfaces of the shroud 56. The span wire is held taut by constant tension means such as a ram tensioner 50 on the sending ship 10.

Securely attached at the remote end 58 of the shroud are a plurality of wire cables 57 which subsequently run through fairleads 68 in each of the shroud frames 55 back over idler pulleys 60 and thence to a winch 62 for manual tensioning on the sending ship and are used for steadying the shroud on the span wire during refueling.

FIG. 2 shows the nozzle 14 and train and elevation means 26 in more detail. A gimbal joint is affixed for rotation to a support 16 fastened to the deck 18 of the sending ship 10. The joint 20 and consequently the nozzle 14, attached to the mount by horizontal trunnions 19, is permitted to swivel in azimuth for training the jet of oil on the receiver 28 of the receiving ship 12. The gimbal joint 20 has an upwardly extending section 21, on the upper extremity of which, a control arm 23 is pivotally mounted for movement in a vertical plane. The control arm 23 is secured to and rides the span wire 44 in a manner so that the control arm 23 will follow the vertical and horizontal angular movement of the span wire as the ships pitch and roll yet permit sliding motion of the span wire caused by the action of the constant tensioning mechanism 50. A link 25 is pivotally attached at its top to the control arm 23 near its outboard end and at the lower end of the link to the top of the nozzle 14 completing substantially a planar parallelogram mechanism. Lateral and vertical movement of the span wire will therefore be followed by the nozzle 14 pivoting on its trunnions 19. The link 25 is so designed to have a certain length necessary to elevate the nozzle in relation to the span wire for trajectory correction.

Link 25 may also be made adjustable in length to change the trajectory for distance variations to the target and for nozzle pressure variations. A fairlead or sheave 27 is mounted for rotation on the section 21 of the gimbal joint 20 for maintaining the span wire 44 directly over the pivot point of the gimbal mount 20.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a shroud frame 55 which supports the shroud 56 at a plurality of points along its length. The shroud frame is in the form of a wing section having a leading edge 64 and a trailing edge 66 for the purpose of reducing air drag and flutter. The leading and trailing edges as well as the bottom of the frame is provided with apertures or fairleads 68 to carry the steadying cables 57 along the length of the shroud between the sending and receiving ship.

The trolley links.54 are attached to frame 55 by any convenient means such as a clevis joint.

DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATION The refueling at sea system according to this invention is commenced by the supplying ship 10 and the receiving combatant ship 12 coming into a position alongside each other at a distance of approximately 60-200 feet.

A messenger line is shot over to the receiving ship by the use of a line throwing gun. The messenger line is used to haul over a span wire to be connected to a padeye 48 on the superstructure of the receiving ship in the conventional manner and held taut by constant tension means 50 as described above. Upon this span wire will ride the trolleys 52 attached through trolley links 54 to the shroud frames 55 at multiple points along the length of an accordion-shaped shroud 56. An open end of the shroud is attached over the supply nozzle 14. An in-haul cable 62 is attached to the remote open end 58 of the shroud 56 for drawing it back to the sending ship 10 upon completion of refueling. Shroud 56 protects the coherent stream of oil from being broken up and contaminated by air currents and wind which exist because of the speed of the ships as well as sea spray.

The automatic train and elevation means 26 upon the supplying ship 10 is activated and adjusted to direct the nozzle 14 to a proper aim for the oil stream 27 to hit its target at the receiver 28. High pressure pumping is commenced upon the sending ship and a coherent jet of oil is formed in the nozzle 14 to form a trajectory 27 which will impinge in the receiver 28 on the receiving ship 12. The receiving ship 12 generally keeps station on the oiler 10 as accurately as possible; however, because of the shift in relative position of the nozzle 14 to the receiver funnel 28 due to pitch and roll of both ships and non-precise station keeping, the nozzle 14 is trained and elevated on its gimbal joint 20 by the automatic train and elevation means 26 riding upon the span wire 44. The flexible fluid coupling 22 to the nozzle permits train and elevation movement of the nozzle 14. The received oil runs down the conduit 36 at the receiver by gravity into a distribution tank where entrained air may bubble out and then is distributed to the fuel tanks (not shown).

Refueling at sea using the system of the present invention is fast and efficient and requires no fluid carrying hoses between the two ships except for the protective shroud as described. The combatant receiving ship will be freed for combatant service and the supply ship will be ready to refuel other combatant ships in a much shorter period of time.

It should be understood of course that the foregoing disclosure relates only to the preferred embodiment of the invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without department from the spirit and the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A jet stream refueling system for refueling ships at sea comprising:

a nozzle upon a sending ship developing a coherent stream of oil in trajectory form;

a receiver on a receiving ship for receiving the coherent stream of oil;

automatic train and elevation means attached to said nozzle on the sending ship maintaining the aim of the nozzle on the receiver;

a collapsible bellows-like shroud conforming to and covering the trajectory of the coherent stream of oil, connected at one end over the nozzle on the sending ship and connected at the other end over the receiver on the receiving ship; and

a span wire connecting the sending ship and the receiving ship for supporting said collapsible shroud.

2. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 wherein the automatic train and elevation means comprises:

a control arm riding on said span wire and thereby transmitting relative position changes to said nozzle; and

adjustable link means between said control arm and said nozzle for making trajectory changes.

' 3. The jet stream refueling system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of trolley links are progressively shorter toward the middle of said shroud to conform the shroud to the parabolic shape of the oil trajectory.

4. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of trolley links connected to said shroud; and

a plurality of trolleys riding on said high line and connected to said trolley links permitting the movement of the shroud along the span wire from a collapsed condition on the sending ship to an extended condition for attachment to the receiver of the receiving ship.

5. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 wherein the span wire is connected to constant tension means aboard the sending ship.

6. The jetstream refueling system of claim 1 wherein said shroud has an aerodynamic shaped cross-section having a leading and trailing edge.

7. In a system for transferring fluid from a supply station to a receiving station separated from said supply station, the combination comprising at said supply station, a nozzle for discharging said fluid in the form of a high-velocity, welldefined stream toward said receiving station, a thin-walled, flexible sleeve normally maintained in a longitudinally collapsed condition coaxial with said nozzle, means securing said sleeve at the end thereof more remote from said point of discharge, and means for longitudinally extending said sleeve as a protective sheath for said stream.

8. Apparatus for delivering fluid from a source of such fluid 

1. A jet stream refueling system for refueling ships at sea comprising: a nozzle upon a sending ship developing a coherent stream of oil in trajectory form; a receiver on a receiving ship for receiving the coherent stream of oil; automatic train and elevation means attached to said nozzle on the sending ship maintaining the aim of the nozzle on the receiver; a collapsible bellows-like shroud conforming to and covering the trajectory of the coherent stream of oil, connected at one end over the nozzle on the sending ship and connected at the other end over the receiver on the receiving ship; and a span wire connecting the sending ship and the receiving ship for supporting said collapsible shroud.
 2. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 wherein the automatic train and elevation means comprises: a control arm riding on said span wire and thereby transmitting relative position changes to said nozzle; and adjustable link means between said control arm and said nozzle for making trajectory changes.
 3. The jet stream refueling system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of trolley links are progressively shorter toward the middle of said shroud to conform the shroud to the parabolic shape of the oil trajectory.
 4. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 further comprising: a plurality of trolley links connected to said shroud; and a plurality of trolleys riding on said high line and connected to said trolley links permitting the movement of the shroud along the span wire from a collapsed condition on the sending ship to an extended condition for attachment to the receiver of the receiving ship.
 5. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 wherein the span wire is connected to constant tension means aboard the sending ship.
 6. The jet stream refueling system of claim 1 wherein said shroud has an aerodynamic shaped cross-section having a leading and trailing edge.
 7. In a system for transferring fluid from a supply station to a receiving station separated from said supply station, the combination comprising at said supply station, a nozzle for discharging said fluid in the form of a high-velocity, well-defined stream toward said receiving station, a thin-walled, flexible sleeve normally maintained in a longitudinally collapsed condition coaxial with said nozzle, means securing said sleeve at the end thereof more remote from said point of discharge, and means for longitudinally extending said sleeve as a protective sheath for said stream.
 8. Apparatus for delivering fluid from a source of such fluid to a receptacle therefor, through normally open space between the source and the receptacle, said apparatus comprising: means for issuing a jet of said fluid from said source toward said receptacle; a sleeve for encompassing said fluid jet; and means, associated with said issuing means, for selectively extending and retracting said sleeve relative to said fluid jet. 